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Friday, 6 November 2015

Choc on Choc Chocolate Buttons : Milk Chocolate & Salted Caramel

I normally associate Choc on Choc, an artisan British chocolate company, with various novelty shaped chocolates that I receive around Christmastime; I remember last year receiving quite a cute white chocolate igloo and have seen many of their unique shaped chocolate products starting to grace the shelves in the run up to Christmas. However they have recently expanded their range to include, what I assume would be me of an impulse, everyday purchase, with their pouched bags of chocolate buttons.

Unlike many of their other chocolate products, which are normally just simple white/milk chocolate, these chocolate buttons come in four different flavours, each in 100g pouches : milk chocolate, salted caramel, milk chocolate orange and dark chocolate raspberry ripple.

If I'm ever buying a bag of standard Cadbury's chocolate buttons I'll often double stack them when I eat them to achieve a good, thick, eat; no need to worry here as these Choc on Choc chocolate buttons have a great thickness!! They are also made to look like actual coat buttons; as opposed to just round, flat shaped chocolate.

The milk chocolate is made with minimum 31% cocoa solids and 21% milk solids and has a lovely, creamy eat to it; it tastes pretty good quality and there's no sickly sweetness to it, just a lovely rich cocoa flavour that has a good, smooth melt when you pop a whole chocolate button in your mouth - which in my opinion is the best way to eat it!The Salted Caramel chocolate buttons had a slightly lighter coloured appearance which made me think that it may have a lower cocoa solids percentage; alas, looking at the back of the pack it has the same amount of cocoa solids/milk solids as the standard milk chocolate variety - albeit with added caramel flavouring + sea salt.

Yum. These were definitely my favourite flavour - I'm rather fussy whenever it comes to anything salted caramel now; I don't like it so that it's so heavily salted that it feels as if I'm eating something savoury, but I hate it when you buy something that says it's 'salted caramel', yet has no salt flavour to it whatsoever! These; however, have just the right balance, a nice level of caramel sweetness at first with a slight salt tang that lingers after melting.At £2.99 for a bag I think they're pretty good value for money, better quality chocolate that is inclined to last a bit longer and not provide as much of a sugar hit as commercial brands but still has all the fun/easy eat that a bag of chocolate buttons possesses.Taste - 8.7/10 - Both flavours were really tasty but the Salted Caramel variety just took it for me.Texture - 8.5/10 - Good, thick, size with a lovely smooth, rich melt.Appearance - 8/10 - Designed like actual chocolate 'buttons'.Price - 7.8/10 - £2.99 for a 100g bag.Overall - 8.3/10 - A tasty, good quality, fun treat._________________________________________________________________________________WHO FOR?Would make a great stocking filler if you're looking for gift ideas in the run up to Christmas.WHERE TO BUY?I haven't seen these in any stores yet but I know that quite a few major retailers - John Lewis, Fenwicks etc stock Choc on Choc so they may pop up there, or you can purchase them on Choc on Choc's website here.